Life Book 2013 - New Blooms

This week's lesson is New Blooms taught by the fabulous Christy Tomlinson.  The message of this lesson is to learn from flowers, to take what we have learned in the past (the good and the bad) and to use that to grow anew.

Last year someone told me a secret that was so painful and profane that it left me changed forever.  There's a scar on my soul that will never disappear and it's not something I can ever divulge, not even in my art diary.

So how do I express that?  The torn paper represents how I felt utterly ripped in two, and the splatters are there for the tears that felt like they would never end.  I visualized all that pain and heartache, all that negativity and 'crap' as compost, fertile ground in which to plant a new seed, from which has emerged a new way of looking at the world.  One that is less black and white, less judgmental.  One that is perfectly captured with the words of Rumi:-

Out beyond ideas 
of wrong doing, 
and right doing, 
there is a field.

I will meet you there.

Christie taught us a fabulous technique for making flowers from tin foil.  I didn't want the silver of the tin foil showing through, so I covered the foil with gold leaf before applying patterned rice paper and shredded gold cellophane.   I then used my Tattered Floral die to cut out the flowers.  Because the base is tin foil they are completely mouldable adding outstanding dimension.

The patterned papers in the background are by Kaisercraft and I have used Distress Inks to add texture.  This is also my first attempt at hand lettering!

Linking up with:

Simon Says Stamp:  Quotable
Make It Monday:  Anything Goes
Through The Craft Room Door:  Anything Goes
Creative Every Day:  Weekly Link